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Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pair of kittens chase 200-pound bear up a tree
A 6-foot, 200-pound bear has been perched high above a Central Florida neighbourhood for hours on Friday after it was chased up a tree by 6-month-old kittens.
"(The bear) was out looking for a place to live and got startled and took refuge in the tree," Florida Fish and Wildlife worker Tom Shupe said.
"(The kittens) had the bear just cornered at the fence and it saw the tree and just ran up the tree and has been there ever since," homeowner Jason Daniels said.
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have been called to the scene to determine what to do with the bear, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
"(The bear) was out looking for a place to live and got startled and took refuge in the tree," Florida Fish and Wildlife worker Tom Shupe said.
"(The kittens) had the bear just cornered at the fence and it saw the tree and just ran up the tree and has been there ever since," homeowner Jason Daniels said.
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have been called to the scene to determine what to do with the bear, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Man killed while robbing the robber
Facing the barrel of a sawn-off shotgun on a dark West Baltimore street, Roland Scott fought back. He pulled out his own weapon - a fake handgun - and wrested the shotgun away from his attacker.
Scott ordered the man to strip naked in the middle of Laurens Street, took $800 from him and forced him to march into the laundry room of a nearby apartment building.
"He starts beating him, telling him to get more money, saying, 'Get me a cell phone or I'm going to kill you,'" said Sgt. Dennis M. Raftery Jr., a supervisor in the Police Department's homicide unit. "He is beating him with the butt of a sawed-off shotgun."
Raftery said the shotgun, then pointed at Scott, discharged, hitting Scott in the stomach and killing him. Authorities said his death will be ruled accidental.
Still naked, the other man ran from the apartment building in the 400 block of Laurens St. - the incident occurred about 4 a.m. Wednesday - and went down Monroe Street. He cut his foot and was treated in the emergency room at St. Agnes Hospital.
"You can't make this up. You just can't," Raftery said. "There is no way that two different people who don't know each other ... there is no way he could come up with the collaborating information. I guess the moral of the story is if you get the jump on someone who is robbing you, call the police. Had he just held him there and called the police, then we would have done what we need to do."
Scott ordered the man to strip naked in the middle of Laurens Street, took $800 from him and forced him to march into the laundry room of a nearby apartment building.
"He starts beating him, telling him to get more money, saying, 'Get me a cell phone or I'm going to kill you,'" said Sgt. Dennis M. Raftery Jr., a supervisor in the Police Department's homicide unit. "He is beating him with the butt of a sawed-off shotgun."
Raftery said the shotgun, then pointed at Scott, discharged, hitting Scott in the stomach and killing him. Authorities said his death will be ruled accidental.
Still naked, the other man ran from the apartment building in the 400 block of Laurens St. - the incident occurred about 4 a.m. Wednesday - and went down Monroe Street. He cut his foot and was treated in the emergency room at St. Agnes Hospital.
"You can't make this up. You just can't," Raftery said. "There is no way that two different people who don't know each other ... there is no way he could come up with the collaborating information. I guess the moral of the story is if you get the jump on someone who is robbing you, call the police. Had he just held him there and called the police, then we would have done what we need to do."
Muslim bus driver told passengers to get off so he could pray
A Muslim bus driver told stunned passengers to get off so he could pray. The white Islamic convert rolled out his prayer mat in the aisle and knelt on the floor facing Mecca.
Passengers watched in amazement as he held out his palms towards the sky, bowed his head and began to chant. One, who filmed the man on his mobile phone, said: “He was clearly praying and chanting in Arabic.”
After a few minutes the driver calmly got up, opened the doors and asked everyone back on board. But they saw a rucksack lying on the floor of the red single-decker and feared he might be a fanatic. So they all refused. After seeing that no-one wanted to get on he drove off.
The bizarre event unfolded on the number 81 in Langley, Berkshire, at around 1.30pm on Thursday.
Yesterday the driver, who said his name was Hrun, said “I asked everyone to get off because I needed to pray. I was running late and had not had time. I pray five times a day as a Muslim — but I don’t normally ask people to get off the bus to do it.”
A spokesperson for bus company London United said: “We are aware of a reported incident involving our route 81. We are currently undertaking a full investigation into the matter.”
With video.
Passengers watched in amazement as he held out his palms towards the sky, bowed his head and began to chant. One, who filmed the man on his mobile phone, said: “He was clearly praying and chanting in Arabic.”
After a few minutes the driver calmly got up, opened the doors and asked everyone back on board. But they saw a rucksack lying on the floor of the red single-decker and feared he might be a fanatic. So they all refused. After seeing that no-one wanted to get on he drove off.
The bizarre event unfolded on the number 81 in Langley, Berkshire, at around 1.30pm on Thursday.
Yesterday the driver, who said his name was Hrun, said “I asked everyone to get off because I needed to pray. I was running late and had not had time. I pray five times a day as a Muslim — but I don’t normally ask people to get off the bus to do it.”
A spokesperson for bus company London United said: “We are aware of a reported incident involving our route 81. We are currently undertaking a full investigation into the matter.”
With video.
Attacked policeman gets £1.54 compensation after 12 years
A former police officer has been sent a compensation cheque for £1.54 - for a case that took place in December 1996.
Neil Woods could not believe his eyes when he opened the cheque from Her Majesty’s Courts Service and saw it referred to a Maidstone magistrates’ case from 12 years ago.
Mr Woods, of Hockers Lane, Detling, said: "I was absolutely flabbergasted. At the time I was serving at Maidstone Police Station and, to the best of my recollection, the compensation was ordered in respect of an assault on me.
"The irony is that I don’t even remember the attack and I actually retired from Kent Police, after 30 years service, in March 2002."
Mr Woods said aside from being amusing, it also brought up very troubling questions about the state of the courts' administration services. He said: "If I’ve received this 12 years on, it makes you wonder whether people who really need the money fare any better."
A spokesman for Her Majesty’s Court Service explained that the money was part payment of £50 compensation Mr Woods was awarded in 1996, of which £7.78 was still outstanding.
Neil Woods could not believe his eyes when he opened the cheque from Her Majesty’s Courts Service and saw it referred to a Maidstone magistrates’ case from 12 years ago.
Mr Woods, of Hockers Lane, Detling, said: "I was absolutely flabbergasted. At the time I was serving at Maidstone Police Station and, to the best of my recollection, the compensation was ordered in respect of an assault on me.
"The irony is that I don’t even remember the attack and I actually retired from Kent Police, after 30 years service, in March 2002."
Mr Woods said aside from being amusing, it also brought up very troubling questions about the state of the courts' administration services. He said: "If I’ve received this 12 years on, it makes you wonder whether people who really need the money fare any better."
A spokesman for Her Majesty’s Court Service explained that the money was part payment of £50 compensation Mr Woods was awarded in 1996, of which £7.78 was still outstanding.
Landlords demands family pay rent for dead daughter
The family of a Liverpool student who died in January have been threatened with legal action over rent on her digs. The parents of Shauna McCann said the letting agents, Wavertree-based Bpm Services Ltd, had caused them “undue stress and worry”.
Shauna was in her final year of a special needs teaching degree at Hope University when she died aged 19 of natural causes on January 29. The teenager, from Bessbrook, in Newry, Northern Ireland, had rented a house with three girls in Carsdale Road, Mossley Hill.
Despite the tragedy, Bpm is demanding her father Kevin pay monthly amounts of £216.67 until June as he “agreed to guarantee his daughter’s rent payments in full for the whole of the period of the tenancy.”
A spokesman said: “We can confirm that legal action will be taken to recover any unpaid rent, as agreed by both Miss McCann and Mr McCann (as guarantor) on the tenancy agreement.”
Bpm denied being unsympathetic and said it had “offered Mr McCann the opportunity to spread the burden of the payments over as many months as his budget permits.”
Shauna’s family said: “We are trying to the best of our ability to come to terms with the loss of our precious daughter. This whole issue has caused us undue stress and worry.”
Shauna was in her final year of a special needs teaching degree at Hope University when she died aged 19 of natural causes on January 29. The teenager, from Bessbrook, in Newry, Northern Ireland, had rented a house with three girls in Carsdale Road, Mossley Hill.
Despite the tragedy, Bpm is demanding her father Kevin pay monthly amounts of £216.67 until June as he “agreed to guarantee his daughter’s rent payments in full for the whole of the period of the tenancy.”
A spokesman said: “We can confirm that legal action will be taken to recover any unpaid rent, as agreed by both Miss McCann and Mr McCann (as guarantor) on the tenancy agreement.”
Bpm denied being unsympathetic and said it had “offered Mr McCann the opportunity to spread the burden of the payments over as many months as his budget permits.”
Shauna’s family said: “We are trying to the best of our ability to come to terms with the loss of our precious daughter. This whole issue has caused us undue stress and worry.”
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